When snow makes a no-show, jugaad

Move over, Potemkin Village, that fake portable village built by Grigory Potemkin, field marshal and ex-lover of Russia’s Catherine II, to impress the empress during her trip to Crimea in 1787. Chengdu Snow Village in China’s Sichuan province just pulled off the ultimate fake-out. Tourists expecting a winter wonderland with cosy log cabins, hot chocolate and snowfall were instead greeted by faux-snow. Cotton trying to pass off as cotton, to be precise. Bedsheet-full of the white stuff had been laid across the ground, even draped over rooftops, in a bold attempt to give tourists the fluffy stuff for their buck.

Chengdu village, which had promoted postcard-perfect images of its snow-covered environs, blamed abnormally high temperatures for the lack of real snow. But when the ruse unravelled, social media had a field day. Furious tourists slammed the village for ‘insulting their intelligence’, prompting management to issue an apology and offer refunds. This isn’t the first time a Chinese tourist spot has been caught ’embellishing nature’. Last year, a viral video revealed that a famous waterfall in Henan province had been secretly augmented with water pipes to maintain its flow. Moral of the story? If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. And if you’re visiting Chengdu Snow Village next winter, pack a lint roller instead of earmuffs.